The Silver Wolf of Aincrad
by novamage87
Summary: Vincent Evergreen, now known as Lowell by friends, the Silver wolf by many, is a participant of Sword Art Online. He teams up with a certain player that will become known as the Flash. Lowell will become the lucky welder of another special skill implemented into the game. A certain Glitch will happen that will affect the game. Will He and his friends survive?
1. And so our Story begins

**Author Notes: hey guys, yeah I'm back. school and work created the long break from stories. i plan on sticking with this one now. things have slowed down and i hope to get more chapters to you soon. now i will be focusing my attention on this story rather than my other. i always appreciate feedback so please leave a review! other than that I have created this story and i hope you all come to enjoy it. now this will actually follow the events of the games more so but i am also taking liberties and modifying the story of both aincrad and what happens in the games. so no events will not be the exact same but they will follow along. i will be breaking the full harem vibe and making this more about the grittiness of surviving the death game. i will still make reference to this "Harem" kirito develops but it wont be such a big thing in this. i am leaving ships open at the moment and looking for input on who should be with who, of course first chapter i doubt the ships will form so i look forward to input in the future. thats about all from me and i hope enjoy the story, sorry this was long the rest of these will not be like this I promise.**

**disclaimer: i do not own SAO or any of its Characters.**

Today was the day! Sword Art Online was officially released and Vincent could not wait to get logged in. The seventeen-year-old fell in love with the game when he played the beta and could not wait to jump back in.

"Yes, I know, I'm sorry I can't wait for you. I'll see you in there tomorrow and we can go on some quests then okay? Hey, did you decide on a username yet Momiji? Kureha? Sounds cool, I think I'm going with Lowell. Yeah, I'll get a head start today and show you the ropes tomorrow. It will be great to hang out again like we used to. Seeya later" Vincent said and then hung up the phone.

He turned to look at the Nervegear resting on his bed and felt excited to jump back into that world. He jumped in bed and put the Nervegear on. Looking at the ceiling he took a deep breath before speaking the start words. "Link Start!"

Bright light and colors filled his vision as the game started and went through the startup screen and settings. Vincent quickly went through this and got to the character creation screen. He took a moment to customize the character, he was going to be using this avatar for a while so he should make it look cool right? He gave the character dark black hair color and it was about a medium length and messy. He had a stubbly beard and bright red eyes. He set the characters height to roughly his own, he didn't want to be disoriented by a height difference. Giving a satisfied sigh Vincent entered his avatar name, Lowell, and started the game. The screen went black before he once again had his vision.

The first thing he saw was the blue sky. He could hear the voices of what he assumed were other players. He took a deep breath and looked forward to seeing the buildings of the starting town. Lowell lifted his hands up to look at them. They were not his hands and yet they were. He closed a fist and smiled, he was back and ready to play again.

He used his right hand to pull down the menu and scanned his items really quick. "Basic leather armor and a longsword. So just like the starting equipment for the beta." He then swiped to the skills menu and skimmed some of the skill trees. "ah so they did some changes to the skills, good to know. Now let's see… what kind of build will I go for this time? Ah fuck it, I'll figure that out later I want to play!"

Lowell quickly closed the menu and took off to a spot he remembered from the beta for being a good grinding spot. He ran past many other players, many talking or running off to their own quests. It felt good to be back in the world, and it all felt real. He ran past the city limits which meant he exited the safety zone of the town. He drew his blade ready to attack the first thing he saw.

A single lone wolf found its way in front of Lowell. At a full sprint Lowell took his blade and held it at eye level, pointed towards the wolf. The blade began to hum with power and glow a light green as he activated the sword skill Vorpal Strike. With a powerful lunge, he dashed through the beast dealing a significant amount of damage. Lowell turned around, and with a grin, slashed the wolf as it lunged at him. The wolf's HP hit zero as the sword carved through it causing it to shatter into the blueish polygons.

"Nice! I still got it." Lowell said turning around to find his next target. Lowell spent the next few hours hunting and had just finished slaying a giant rat when he heard someone shouting. Instincts taking over, Lowell ran to find its source. What he found was someone cornered by a pack of wolves. The person seemed to be very inexperienced considering they were taking on so many enemies at once. Lowell glanced at his HP noting how he should have bought some health potions before leaving town. Lowell took the stance and used Vorpal Strike to not only attack one of the wolves but also to cover some ground.

With a shout Lowell's blade cut through one of the wolves killing the beast in a single blow. The other four wolves split two turning their attention to Lowell and the other two towards the other player. "get up and fight or we're both gonna die here, and I really don't wanna lose any of the crap I got already." Lowell shouted at the other player. If they responded Lowell didn't hear it as he turned to focus on the two wolves in front of him. One wolf lunged trying to surprise Lowell. Lowell saw through this and was already sidestepping the attack and plunged the blade into its side. The beats jumped back with a whimper from the attack. Lowell then felt a sharp pain in his leg. He looked down to see the other wolf had come up as he was distracted and bit him. He slashed at the beast causing it to back off as it took damage. "shit!" Lowell cursed as his HP was low in the yellow.

Lowell started circling the wolves till he had them lined up and used Vorpal Strike once again to hit both of them. Both wolves fell with a howl and shattered. Lowell then turned to check on the other player. They had already dispatched one wolf but the other was being cautious and staying out of her reach. Lowell took this opportunity while the other player took the wolf's agro to attack it while it was distracted. With a quick few slashes from his sword the wolf died.

With that out of the way Lowell turned to face the player he had helped, keeping his blade at the ready in case this one was into Player Killing. It was only then he noticed the player was a woman, then again it could also be a guy using a female avatar.

"uh hey. You okay there?" Lowell asked, warry of the players intentions now.

"y-yes, Thank you very much for your help there? I'm sorry I don't really know what I'm doing." The girl replied bashfully bowing in thanks.

Lowell lowered his blade but kept it out just in case this was an act. He looked above her head to see her name. "So Asuna? What are you doing out here all alone?"

"wha? H-how did you know my name?" Asuna asked surprised.

"oh god… you really have no idea how to play do you?" Lowell asked with a sympathetic look.

The girl shook her head. "this is my first time playing a game like this. Its actually my brothers, I just wanted to see what the appeal was about."

"well what did you think so far?" Lowell asked now sheathing his blade.

"honestly, I don't really get it yet, but I can see how this could be fun, but I think I had enough for one day… how do I log out?" Asuna asked.

"well if your ever up for it I would be happy to show you the ropes. Now, swipe down with your right hand like this" Lowell Said and showed her how. Then he went to where the log out button would be, only it wasn't there. "wait, that's not right. It should be right here."

"the button it's blank, wait are we stuck in here forever?" Asuna asked

"no, I'm sure it's just a small bug, they should have it fixed soon." Lowell said before he was enveloped by blue light.

When the light faded, and vision returned to him Lowell looked around to see he was in the center of the starting town. Players were popping in all around him, and Asuna stood next to him with a confused look on her face.

"what's going on?" Asuna asked looking at Lowell

"it was a forced teleportation; I'm guessing it's some sort of announcement about the log out button being broken." Lowell said explaining his theory.

That's when the sky started to bleed. The blood collected and formed a robed figure lording over everyone. Lowell remained silent watching as the figure raised its arms.

"attention player, welcome to my world." The robed figure said.

"Kabaya… has to be" Lowell muttered.

"my name is Kabaya Akihiko, I am currently the one and only person who can control this world." The figure said.

Murmurs broke out amongst the crowd. "who is that?" Asuna asked

"he's the guy that pretty much made SAO" Lowell said.

"I'm sure that many of you have already noticed, the logout button on the main menu has been removed. However, this is by no means a mistake." The figure said opening up his own menu to showcase just that.

"I repeat, it is not a mistake, but a feature of the true Sword Art Online. You are all unable to log out of SAO, and nobody in the real world can remove or interrupt its function. Should it be attempted a powerful burst of microwave radiation emitted from a transmitter in the Nervegear. Will destroy your brain, thus ending your life." Kayaba said and fell silent as he let that sink in.

"That can't be true right?" Asuna asked looking at Lowell, he was the only person she seemed to have any trust right now.

"It's possible, I think. If someone disables the safety protocols on the Nervegear." Lowell said, he wasn't well versed in all the specs but it seemed like something it could do.

"Unfortunately, it's certainly possible that a player's family or friends would ignore this warning and attempt to forcibly remove the Nervegear." The figure began speaking once again. "as proof of this, 213 players have retired from both this world and the real one."

Video feeds and news articles began popping up around the figure. "as you can see, news of my warning and the numerous victims are being spread worldwide. Thus, it should be safe to say that the danger of removal attempts has become minimal. I hope you will all be at ease and focus on completing the game. But I'd like you all to keep this in mind. From this point on, all methods of revival in the game will no longer function. If your HP hits zero, your avatar will perish for eternity, and at that moment… the Nervegear will destroy your brain." The figure said.

Lowell's eyes widened and he grit his teeth, "this bastard…" he muttered. Thank god Momoji didn't join me today Lowell thought then looked at Asuna. She was scared he could tell, they were quite friends yet but he reached out and took her hand to comfort her. Asuna was startled when Lowell grabbed her hand, but it was reassuring, and she squeezed his hand.

"there is only one condition you must meet to be free: the completion of this game. You are all currently on the first floor, the lowest point in Aincrad. If you conquer a floor's dungeon and defeat the Floor Boss, you may continue up to the next one. Assuming you manage to defeat the final boss on the 100th floor, the game will be considered cleared. And lastly, I've prepared a present for all of you in your item storages. Take a look." Kayaba said.

Lowell and everyone else opened their menu and looked at their inventory. He clicked on the new item and a mirror appeared in his hands. "what's the point of this?" Lowell asked before his appearance changed. He was no longer the older rugged warrior avatar he had created. What he saw was the seventeen-year-old boy from the real world. Long dark grey hair very messy up front and fell into his eyes. The back tied into a lose ponytail that went down to the middle of his back. His one really weird feature was his yellow eyes. He was back to his 5'11 height and average in build.

Realizing what had happened Lowell quickly turned to where Asuna was. She too had changed, but she was indeed a girl. She couldn't have been more than 14 and she had long brown hair and Brown eyes. Honestly, she was cute. "Asuna?" Lowell asked still surprised.

"y-you?" Asuna looked just as surprised. That's when Lowell realized he never introduced himself. "oh, uh sorry I'm Lowell." He said and pointed to where his name should have been displayed for other players. Asuna looked up and saw as such and nodded.

"right now, you're probably wondering why? Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online and Nervegear do this? Ultimately my goal was a simple one. The reason I created SAO; was to create a world whose fate was of my own design. As you can see, I have achieved my goal. This marks the end of the tutorial and marks the official start of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck." Kayaba said just as the giant robed form faded.

There was an eerie silence that seemed to last forever before the crowd erupted in panic. Lowell grabbed Asuna's hand "come one we need to move away from this."

"ah wait." Asuna said as she was dragged along.

"it's going to be chaos for a bit who knows what anyone is going to do at the moment, but once the reality sets in people will flood from the town and grinding will be near impossible here. We need to get away and start grinding in tougher areas. I know my way around so I think the two of us can handle this." Lowell said not stopping until Asuna pulled her hand from his.

"I said wait!" Asuna shouted as she stopped. "we can't just run out there! We could die!"

"And if we don't go out there we will never get out. We have to fight, or we will die here anyway. You're not alone here. I know we just met but trust me, we need to go." Lowell said and held his hand out to Asuna.

Asuna stared at him for a long while as if she was reading him like a book. Slowly she put her hand in his, "let's go, let's survive."

Lowell gave her as much of a smile as he could muster and lead the way heading away from town into what would be the constant struggle to survive.


	2. Training the Newbie

**author notes: hello again! thanks for coming back to read the next chapter. i will be trying to get a few chapters of this out decently quickly and then i may slow down in order to come up with more ideas for this. aside from that, reviews are always helpful, i would love to hear everyone's thoughts. thanks again and enjoy the next chapter.**

**disclaimer/ still don't own SAO, i know crazy right?**

Lowell and Asuna ran, ran away from the Town of Beginnings, they ran until they couldn't run anymore. Out of breath and breathing heavily, the two finally stopped and sat down.

"hah, hah, okay take a moment and then open your inventory. There should be a book in there. It has tons of tips for beginners and should help you get a decent grasp of things. Once you're done with that it's time to grind" Lowell said as he sat on the ground next to Asuna.

"okay, just let me catch my breath." Asuna said looking down. She was still startled after the whole ordeal. She was still playing catch up mentally and emotionally. She was glad she had run into Lowell when she had, he was the rock holding her in place now.

Lowell opened his menu and started looking through the drops he had gotten. It was all materials and a single potion. "we need to fight stronger enemies, find some quests." Lowell muttered to himself. He looked up to see Asuna was reading the book, so he had time to assort his level up. He had already decided Dex and strength would probably be his strong suit. He would focus longsword skills. Detect hidden and traps would be helpful down the road, so would alchemy, make his own potions rather than buy them all the time, but would that be the best option? After all he could just buy the potions and dedicate those points to something else. Lowell sighed, never before had decisions like this meant so much, it was life or death now, not just a small setback of things don't go well.

"that was a lot of information." Asuna said as she put the book back in her inventory.

"wha? Oh, uh yeah. Don't worry about retaining all of that, after all I am sure you'll pick things up fast. Though I suggest figuring out a play style fast so you can grind it out specifically." Lowell said.

"what would you recommend?" Asuna asked seeking guidance from an experienced player.

Lowell rested a hand on his chin as he thought for a moment, "well honestly I don't know. I haven't really seen how you fight. But give me an idea how you take on an enemy. Would you like to go with full brute force? Or speedy? Or maybe at a bit of a distance?' Lowell asked.

"I think speed is key. Be fast and never get hurt?" Asuna said questioning if her logic we sound.

"that sounds good, it's certainly a strategy people tried to use during the beta. I recommend a Rapier then. You can move fast and sting your enemies like a wasp and be gone before they know it." Lowell said.

Asuna Nodded and bowed "thank you for your help and being patient with me as I'm learning."

"I don't mind honestly I think it'll be nice to have someone to rely on out here. And I would honestly hate to see you die out here, I just want to help." Lowell said rubbing the back of his head. It was kind of embarrassing to him having someone look up to him like this. "okay well if we're going to be working together, I'm going to send you a friend request so we can message each other. And then we should forma party so we can keep an eye on our status." Lowell said as he opened his menu and sent both requests to Asuna. Lowell had to explain how to accept both requests and what they meant.

With the break over and the two now in an official party they set out to grind and for Lowell to teach Asuna how to play. They came across a small group of Kobalds when Lowell slowed his pace.

"these guys are going to be tough at our level so we should be patient and attack them one at a time. I'm going to show you how to use sword skills, they will be the best course of action to deal a lot of damage to the enemy. You have to be careful though because there is a minor cooldown period after you use one. So, make sure you hit them otherwise they will destroy your health. We will work on a new technique those of us in the beta learned. It's called switching. So, one of us will draw the enemy's attention while the other prepares to attack. The point of this is to unleash a flurry of sword skills against the enemy." Lowell said as he picked up a stone and looked to Asuna "you ready?"

Asuna nodded with a serious look and drew her sword "let's do it."

Lowell scanned the group of Kobolds looking for the one with the lightest armor as he twirled the stone in his hand. Picking his target, a kobold in leather that had a hammer, he threw the stone at the creature to draw its attention. As the stone hit the kobold, its head perked up and turned towards the direction of the attack.

"wait for it to come to us, we don't want to alert the others." Lowell said holding a hand to stop Asuna from charging it. He waited till the Kobold was a sufficient distance from the others before dropping his hand "go!" Lowell said as Asuna dashed ahead of him. Lowell followed right behind her ready to follow up on what she did. Asuna got close and used Vorpal Strike and dashed at the enemy in a thrust attack. This knocked the enemy back and then Lowell jumped over Asuna shouting "switch!" as he activated a new sword skill Cross Slash and slashed at the enemy in an X motion dropping its HP to the yellow. Lowell landed just in time to see Asuna get in front of him and attack the kobold once again. Lowell smiled, she picked this up quick. Taking the opportunity Lowell yelled "switch" again and Asuna stepped to the side just as Lowell used Vorpal Strike as well to plunge his blade into the Kobold dealing the fatal blow.

"we did it." Lowell said quietly, this had a different feeling than before. It was very different stakes if they fucked it up. It wasn't exactly fun this time, but terrifying. But they were still alive! That's what mattered. He turned to Asuna and smiled, "you did great! That's exactly how we should do this. And don't worry if you're scared of messing up. You'll learn as you go, and we will know how each other thinks and acts soon enough."

Asuna Smiled relieved to hear she did well "thank you, I'm glad you think so, I don't want to be a burden."

"you're not, in fact you're actually doing really well for a beginner." Lowell said turning to see if they alerted the rest of the Kobolds. Luckily, they hadn't yet. "but were not done yet, we got the rest of these Kobolds and many more fights ahead after that" Lowell said preparing himself mentally for what was to come. He was worried about the girl and how she would hold up to all this fighting. When Asuna walked to stand at his side holding her blade with determination Lowell smirked glad to see this girl seemed ready to fight and live another day.

"wanna lead the charge again?" Lowell asked

Asuna nodded and took off with a battle cry and Lowell followed behind blade at the ready.


	3. A little R and R

**Author note: Heyo, thanks for the reviews so far i will take what was said into consideration. let me know how the pacing of the story is, and as always i appreciate any reviews. aside from that here is chapter 3**

**Disclaimer: i don't own SAO**

It has been a few week since the two lone players started grinding. They had leveled up a decent amount since the start and Asuna was picking things up fast. They went into each fight knowing it could be their last. They kept the hope in their hearts that this would all eventually lead to them escaping. They were both sporting some new equipment, they had some rare loot for being on floor one. Lowell contributed it to what his friends called his natural luck. He had an Anneal Blade and was sporting some half plate armor called Plate of the Aspiring Hero. It was simple steel chest covering with leather shirt. He had steel gauntlets and boots to go with it. It was rather common looking armor, so he hadn't garnered a lot of attention for having it yet. Asuna on the other hand had finally gotten a rapier called Wasps Sting. She was using it well and Lowell knew she would do amazing as a rapier wielder. Aside from that her armor looked more like clothing right now but the stats helped increase her speed and evasion. The downside was it had little in protection.

Lowell sighed as he placed his blade in the ground and used it to lean on. He and Asuna had been grinding as early as they could that day for materials to upgrade their equipment. They both had gotten a decent amount of Cor and Lowell could upgrade his blade at least twice with what they had if they found a decent blacksmith soon. Lowell looked to Asuna as she was scanning their surroundings for enemies to fight. She had been working so hard since the start and Lowell was honestly impressed how well she was keeping it together. Maybe it was time the two took a little time off for mental health, after all he doubt this constant fighting was good for either of them at the moment. Lowell opened his menu and took stock of his Cor and did a mental calculation for how much he could spend. Some real decent food and maybe a bath could do wonders for them right now.

"hey Asuna, how about we call it a day?" Lowell asked looking towards the girl.

"why? I thought we planned to keep hunting today to get those sword upgrades hopefully tomorrow?" Asuna said tilting her head wondering why Lowell was changing their plans.

"yeah well I think we've been doing a lot of that these past few days. It's important we do of course but we should take care of ourselves too. Take a break every now and then as a reward of sorts for all our hard work." Lowell explained.

"Alright, what will we do then?" Asuna asked.

"well do what you want, you don't always have to stay by my side" Lowell started

"No!" Asuna said quickly before looking down embarrassed at her outburst before continuing. "I-I mean I feel safer with you around, we haven't talked to a whole lot of other people yet."

"ah…" Lowell said nodding, with all the fighting they've done he sort of forgot she was still a kid, well he was also still technically a kid. "okay well how about we get some food? And I mean real food, not this bread and jerky we have been eating. Then I thought a bath would be refreshing." Lowell said.

Asuna raised her head "I-I don't smell right?" she asked now concerned since they hadn't bathed in a while.

"no, no. while this world does include a lot of scents I am glad they kept body od-"Lowell stopped as he sniffed himself and winced, he smelt horrid. "never mind… they did implement that, dang I really smell." Lowell said.

Asuna stepped closer and took a sniff before swiping her nose to wave away the smell. "your right, you do."

"hey!" Lowell said before smiling as he noticed Asuna smile at her little chide. It had been a while since he saw her smile.

"then I guess we go to the baths first." Lowell said as he began leading the way back to town.  
After a couple hours of walking and fighting a few random mobs the duo had found their way back to town. The situation in the town was better than during those first couple of days after the death game started. People were walking around, and the panic of the masses had died down. People were starting to try and make something of the lives they had here now. Most of them were still scared to go out and fight. Some even committed suicide. It was a horrible first few days, the death toll skyrocketed. But thankfully things calmed down. There were vendors and some people were trying to establish a sort of governing police force to hold the peace. Lowell lead Asuna back to one of the many Taverns in the town. The Lion's Den was his favorite during the beta, and he had rooms already reserved and paid for just in case.

Upon arrival the sound of music and the smell of food flooded their senses. Lowell's stomach growled loudly.

"someone is hungry." Asuna said and poked Lowell's side.

"shush, it's been a while since we ate, let alone anything good." Lowell muttered. "as hungry as I am, we really should get a bath first."

The two went to their respective rooms. They had both stayed here before just to have a place to sleep. Even though it cost more Cor the two slept in different rooms. Lowell wanted to give Asuna her privacy and it was still weird to sleep in the same room with someone you still didn't know that well.

Lowell sighed as he soaked in the warm bath water. He felt a little unnerved having to unequip his gear. It was the one thing that kept him alive aside from his partner. So not having it on him was disturbing. The warmth of the water soon dissipated those feelings as he relaxed his mind. This was all so crazy. Who knew jumping into this damn game would have led to this whole situation? God, and he almost dragged his friend into this hell with him when he suggested they play together. Why did he even drag Asuna with him? He could have just left her alone so why? If he had to guess, a part of him just couldn't stand the thought that she would be alone in here with no idea how to survive this. He had to admit though, he was getting protective of her now. He was just surprised she went along with him that day. And the more he thought about it, they didn't know a whole lot about each other. Maybe it was for the best that they didn't bring up life outside this… game. Still it would be nice to just hang out the rest of the day.

Lowell finished washing up and got out of the bath. He opened his menu and was about to put his armor back on but decided that today was for relaxation, so he threw on some basic clothes. He didn't have anything fancy, so it was just a simple brown tunic and pants with some leather boots. His wet hair clung to his face and made him look like a wet dog. Lowell pulled a strand of hair out of his eye as he stepped out of his room and ran into Asuna.

Asuna had just gotten out of the bath as well, as seen by her wet hair as well, but she was wearing her battle gear.

"oh? You're not wearing your armor?" Asuna asked surprised considering she hadn't seen him outside of it since they met.

"I just thought we would take the day off. So, I dressed casually." Lowell said putting his hands in his pockets.

"oh, should I go change?" Asuna asked opening her menu.

"no! your fine, besides your armor looks fine as regular clothing anyway. And I wouldn't advise changing in the open." Lowell said peeking through his fingers just in case she changed before he could stop her.

"alright then. Shall we eat then?" Asuna asked as moved ahead of Lowell.

"right…" Lowell said and put his hands back in his pockets following Asuna.

As the two made it downstairs Lowell motioned for Asuna to get them a seat as he ordered them food. Looking around Lowell noticed a group of adventures had just come in. seemed they were celebrating a recent victory and they were drinking their worries away.

"what can I get you?" asked the NPC Barkeep as they rested an elbow on the counter.

"get me two of the Stew, a glass of water and juice." Lowell said and dropped the Cor on the counter.

"coming right up" the Barkeep said taking the money and heading into the back.

Lowell turned around to see Asuna talking to one of those adventurers that had just entered the tavern. Lowell started walking closer only to hear what seemed to be the man trying pickup lines on the poor girl.

"-cause you're a catch." The man said with a smile.

"ah Lowell!" Asuna said happy to see her companion return and hopefully help her get this guy away from her.

"huh?" the man turned to see Lowell and his face fell "aw man why didn't you say you were already taken?'

"cause she's not" Lowell said observing the man. He seemed older and had stubbly beard and red hair. "and I gotta say your taste seems a little young for a man your age."

"wait how old is she?" the man asked.

Lowell shrugged "doesn't matter she doesn't seem interested anyway. So how about I buy you a drink and your leave us to our meal?"

"that is a wonderful idea. I like the way you think. Name is Klein!" the man who was now revealed to be Klein said as he extended a hand to Lowell.

Lowell hesitantly shook Klein's hand "Lowell, and that is Asuna."

"it's nice to meet you both. I'll take that drink and get out of your hair." Klein said.

Lowell shook his head and handed the man a few Cor for a drink before sitting down just as their food arrived.

"well that was interesting" Asuna muttered.

"that it was, I would suggest in the future not being afraid to make your opinion known to the man and using force if necessary. Some guys out there can be creepy, we got lucky he seems like a rather chill guy and only hit on you cause he's drunk." Lowell said.

Asuna nodded "I'm sorry I just didn't want to cause a scene"

"your fine, now let's eat cause I'm starving." Lowell said as he dug into the stew.

"I know, your stomach isn't that stealthy about its intentions." Asuna said with a smile as she ate.

The two made small talk as they ate talking about how things could have gone better in a certain fight or how the weather seems to actually affect not only them but the creatures they fight as well. Lowell sat back with a satisfied sigh as he finished his food.

"damn that was good, certainly better than plain bread all the time." Lowell said

"mhm! I wish we could eat like this more often." Asuna said with a satisfied smile.

"well I mean you could learn to cook in here. There is a skill tree for that, it will just take a lot of time." Lowell said

"wait really!? Would you help me?" Asuna asked leaning over the table excited.

"uh, yeah sure. I can help you hunt for ingredients and be a taste tester." Lowell said

"of course, you'd volunteer to eat food" Asuna said with a roll of her eyes.

Lowell stuck his tongue out at her and then got up. "come on, let's go get the basics for cooking then."

"awesome!" Asuna said getting up with spring in her step.

They both headed for the door when that Klein fellow stepped up to Lowell.

"oh, what now?" Lowell muttered.

"hey man, thanks again for that drink. I was telling my buddies over there and we all agree you seem like a pretty cool dude, if you ever wanna party together just hit us up with a message. We would love to see you in action." Klein said a smile that was contagious.

"I will keep that in mind." Lowell said walking past Klein towards the door.

In his rush to leave the tavern and the drunken group of men Lowell wasn't paying attention as he opened the door and ran right into someone. Landing with a thud on his ass he winced from the pain. Lowell looked over to see the person he ran into. It was a certain blond girl with whiskers on her face.

"Shit, sorry Argo." Lowell said and got up to offer the girl some help.

Argo started working as an info broker, buying and selling information to players as her job. she was no slouch though; she would go out into the field to find information herself or to make sure of the validity of the information she buys before she resells it. she was among the best of info brokers out there.

"jeeze Lo Lo, watch where your goin, your gonna hurt someone one of these days." Argo said.

"stop calling me Lo Lo, it's weird." Lowell said.

"no can do Lo Lo, you're a return customer and a favorite of mine, even if you make my butt sore." Argo said with a smirk.

Lowell sighed choosing not to comment on that innuendo. "I'm sorry okay."

"your fine, but what's with you walking around without your armor? And Asuna actually taking a day off?" Argo asked as she crossed her arms.

"we are, we were about to go looking for cooking supplies before Lowell ran into you" Asuna said

"cooking? You finally tired that crap they call food? Well lemme know how that goes. If you do well, I would be happy to trade you some info for a decent meal for once." Argo said.

"duly noted. Come on Asuna. See ya Argo." Lowell said as he resumed walking.

"bye Lo Lo, and Asuna." Argo said, sadly she still didn't have a nickname for Asuna.

After a bit of searching they found what they needed to begin the basic of cooking. Once back in their rooms, Lowell waited as Asuna tried for the first time to cook something in this game. After a couple minutes she came back with a small bowl of a simple stew.

"I hope it's good, my skill leveled up after I made it, so I assume it turned out fine." Asuna said as she handed the bowl to Lowell.

"I'm sure it's fine." Lowell said and took a bite. It tasted just like the stew from the Tavern.

"this is good, if this is the basic stuff you can make, I can't imagine the high-level food you could make later on. Keep it up." Lowell said

"really! It was good! That's great!" Asuna said and gave Lowell a quick hug before dashing off to level up her cooking skill some more.

Lowell smirked glad to see the girl happy about something for once. He sighed and closed his eyes letting sleep take him.


End file.
